


No use crying over spilled pilk

by suzakukills



Category: Free!
Genre: Coming Out, Embarrassment, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-05
Updated: 2014-09-05
Packaged: 2018-02-16 06:49:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2259957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suzakukills/pseuds/suzakukills
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Makoto Tachibana finds out that Sousuke Yamazaki is a cat person in the most unexpected of ways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No use crying over spilled pilk

Makoto bumps into Sousuke without knowing it’s him, all he wants is to take a closer look at the cat the man is petting, placing milk in an old tupperware for. 

"What’s his name?" He inquires without as much as looking at the man, his eyes entirely too focused on the tabby that’s making purring sounds and waiting for the liquid to fill up the container.

Sousuke is startled, nearly spills the milk on Makoto’s shoes as he turns around and looks like he’s been caught cheating or worse. “It doesn’t have a name,” he admits and pets it’s head once more before standing up and beginning to walk away, halting mid-step when he realises the other man was someone he knew.

"Tachibana, right?" he asks, pointing at him and readjusting the bag he was holding over his shoulder, completely crumpling the milk carton in his left hand.

"Yamazaki-kun, is that you?" Makoto’s eyes widen with pleasant surprise, and he crouches down to pet the cat before giving it enough space to feed and walking closer to the man in front of him, it had been five years since they’d last seen each other, since high school.

 

"Yeah, what’s up?" he asks, in a polite tone that is obvious for Makoto that he probably doesn’t really want to strike a friendly conversation with him, but he seems the same, if anything his hair is a little longer but those turquoise eyes haven’t changed a bit, and that serious expression on his face didn’t falter (Makoto wonders how he looked when he was feeding the cat).

"I, I don’t want to keep you if you’re on your way, I just really-"

"Like cats, right? Yeah, I remember Rin mentioning you were some sort of cat fanatic," Sousuke admits and his hand is waving at him, motioning for him to catch up to him so they can walk at the same pace.

The slightly shorter man nods, and walks ahead, meeting his pace as they both go back into the main road of the busy streets and the amount of people make them walk a little closer, shoulders bumping into each other. They were big to begin with, and it’s almost as if they take up the entire sidewalk.

"So what are you doing here? You live in Tokyo?" Sousuke breaks the silence first, but keeps his eyes ahead and a quick pace.

"I’m working at the fire station in this prefecture, how about you? I think I heard you were coaching a swim team or something like that?" Makoto lifts his arm suddenly, to avoid colliding into the business woman who walked a little too fast, with her cellphone keeping her distracted.

He bumps into Sousuke, again, and this prompts an uncomfortable look from him. “Here, let’s go inside and wait for this to die down a little,” he offers and pulls the fireman into a coffee shop they were walking by. “Sit down, I’ll get us something,” and he’s still as strict as ever, hard to figure out - and Makoto wonders why he’s now sitting in a coffee shop with a man he hasn’t seen in years.

Minutes go by, and he ignores the ringing in his cellphone, not up to the challenge of explaining his Mother that he won’t be coming back on the next break and that  _yes_ , he’s still gay. In retrospective, coming out might have not been the smartest move, but he figured that with him in Tokyo it’d give his parents enough time to think about it.

"Here, I figured you like this type of stuff," Sousuke slid the caramel frapuccino across the table, and Makoto watched, in complete fascination how he stirred a bit of milk into his otherwise dark coffee. 

"I actually prefer it black, but this is okay too," he admits and sips away, the face he makes isn’t missed by Sousuke, who cracks something that  _may_ be a smile at how taken aback he seemed by the sweet flavor.

"To answer your question, my coaching job is just a side-thing, though i’m taking a break now since I’m trying to make detective in the police force," the conversation goes as if they hadn’t paused it, and it’s obvious now by the shield stitched in his bag that he was in fact a cop.

"I’m sure you’ll get there."

"We’re both public servants now, huh," Sousuke wasn’t looking at him, instead he had chosen a window table, and kept looking outside - maybe waiting for the traffic to subside.

"I didn’t know you liked cats, Yamazaki-kun," Makoto finally speaks, after a few minutes of awkward silence, and the boy sitting across from him scrunches his nose. "I don’t exactly like cats, but isn’t it a shame? It wants to live but it can’t without food, so I’m just giving it a fighting chance out there," his reply is honest, and he doesn’t look away from the window.

"Why don’t you keep it?"

"They don’t allow pets in my apartment, besides an animal is troublesome, my shifts are irregular and I’m hardly ever home, so…"

"Maybe your lover could take care of it," Makoto says, without much thought and as soon as he’s said it he wants to bury his face in his frappe, embarrassing. 

The taller boy laughs, again, and shakes his head and doesn’t really say anything. He was always good at keeping the mystery and it’s obvious he likes it like that.

"What about you? You got a cat or two? You look the type," his eyes are finally looking at him, and the smile on his face hasn’t faded.

"My shifts suck too so there isn’t much time for me to keep one… but I do volunteer at the animal shelter near my house," and that’s so Makoto that Sousuke can’t help but roll his eyes a little.

"Looks like it’s dying down outside, let’s go," he is quick to stand up, and in one sip he finishes the rest of the warm coffee, it’s all according to his pace and this time it’s Makoto’s turn to chuckle.

As they head out of the coffee shop, and begin to bid goodbyes, someone interrupts them, the younger boy with glasses and a flirty smile jumps into Makoto’s back, causing him to stumble and turn around.

"What’s this? Are you cheating on me?" he babbles along, carelessly with no care or attention to where they are, and Makoto panics, he opens his mouth to speak but no words come out.

"Is this why you haven’t returned my calls? Tachibana-san that’s so cruel," the black-haired boy whines and pushes Makoto’s shoulder back, despite the size difference between them, the taller boy doesn’t fight back and it doesn’t take long for Sousuke to figure out what’s going on.

"Hide-kun, let’s not talk about this here," he finally manages, and puts his hand on the boy’s shoulders and tries to bring him along with him, but he’s not budging.

"Is this your new man? What am I not your type anymore?" and Sousuke can  _smell_  the stench of alcohol from where he is, and he wonders what someone is doing drinking this much if it’s only 8 p.m. 

"He’s good looking I’ll give you that but I’m sure-" and Makoto manages to cover his mouth with his hand, and he’s looking more and more red as the seconds go by, and Sousuke doesn’t take his cue to leave and just stands there mildly amused at the entire display.

"Please, don’t do this here," Makoto mumbles, and the boy’s retort is to step on his foot, enough that he lets go from the pain and then he’s pointing his finger at Sousuke, and poking his chest about to say some gaudy thing (that much he figures out) and that’s really the end of it - without much thought Sousuke grabs his wrist and pushes it away, "Hey, kid, take a walk, read the situation, you’re embarrassing yourself," he denounces and smiles at him with his eyes fixed on him, and the boy isn’t angry anymore but instead his cheeks tint red.

When he lets him go, he turns on his heel and goes in the opposite direction without so much as a ‘good bye’, Makoto’s still hiding his face in between his hands after he’s disappeared among the crowd.

"He’s gone."

"Yeah, I want to be gone too, good bye, Yamazaki-kun. Please don’t tell Rin or anyone about this," he mumbles, and Sousuke has to come closer to him to hear what he’s saying, and when he finally pulls his hands away from his face his green eyes are face to face with turquoise ones.

"So…" 

"Yes, I’m gay, okay," Makoto throws his hands up defensively and decides to just be proactive about the whole situation.

"I was going to say if you wanted me to walk you home in case the crazy kid comes back but okay, that’s good for you Tachibana," Sousuke pulls back and begins to walk away in the opposite direction.

It takes Makoto a few seconds to recover, and when he does his face lights up and he finally catches up to him, his hand on his shoulder to make him stop. “Wait,” his face flushed, and it’s obvious his breathing is escalated.

"You ran for like ten meters, firemen are supposed to be conditioned," raised eyebrows and a cocky expression are staring back at him.

"Shut up, I’ll take your offer about walking back together."

"I’m bi," Sousuke admits, as they re-route their walking and begin to head to Makoto’s house. 

They don’t speak another word until they get to Makoto’s building, “See you around, Tachibana.”

"Yamazaki-kun, wait, would you like to come up for tea?" and he’s getting more and more embarrassing as the night evolves.

"Are you hitting on me?" he doesn’t turn around, and it’s hard to see his expression. Makoto’s quiet, unsure of what to say, because of course it’s stupid to deny that he was in fact attractive and that who wouldn’t at least think  _once_  of what it’d be like to be with a guy like him but that’s definitely not hi——

"I’m joking, let’s go," he follows him into the building, and his expression is as cryptic as before, when he was talking about the cat.

"and drop the Yamazaki-kun, we’ve known each other for years you know," they make small talk as they enter his apartment.

"Sousuke?" but it’s terrible, they both feel awkward.

"On a second note, just Yamazaki will do," he coughs to hide his embarrassed. Taking off his shoes and going inside, the apartment seemed just like everything he’d imagine: picture frames everywhere, cluttered walls, a homely feel.

"So is that your type, Tachibana? Cute and annoying or something? You’ve come along way since Nanase then," his tone is mocking and subtle as he plops down on the red couch by the television.

"Haru? I would never, don’t project your own emotions into my situation, Yamazaki," and this time he’s more assertive, and Sousuke can’t deny he likes this Makoto a little bit more.

"I’m kidding, now about that reward for totally saving you and walking you home…" 

The fireman is so preoccupied with finding the tea-pot that he fails to notice that the other man was quick on his feet and already away from the couch and trapping him between the kitchen counter and himself.

"You move fast, don’t you?" Makoto’s voice isn’t stuttering and he makes a mental note to thank himself for sounding that smooth and not like a trainwreck, even though it’s a little hard to pry his eyes away from Sousuke’s lips which are a few inches away from his own.

"Not gonna lie, I may or may not have been wondering if your lips are really as soft as they look since high school," and that smirk is back in place, and it’s hard to resist when he’s whispering things in his ear and pulling back to keep his eyes fixed on him.

"But Rin-"

"You’re more my type, don’t worry," he murmurs again and Makoto feels his hands on his hair, playful but gripping him. He gulps.

And he probably closes his eyes too because all he feels next is Sousuke’s lips on his own, and it’s quick and a peck, and he’s pulling away and shaking his head and about to say something about how he’s too gullible, but Makoto’s hands are gripping his face and it’s him kissing this time around.

He shows him a proper kiss, and stops just when Sousuke tries to put his tongue inside. The boy looks seriously offended by the gesture.

"Let’s take it slow," he admits, and pushes him back, his strength more than enough to create space between them and he’s going back to finding that kettle.

He kissed Sousuke Yamazaki. He kissed him, well technically he kissed him first but still he kissed him back, and oh God, he can never face Rin again that would be too embarrassing, but it didn’t feel bad at all - it felt so good, he can’t wait to do it again.


End file.
